Automatic alarm system

ABSTRACT

A monitor signal from monitoring equipment or from a monitoring tool is input to a alarm device. Alarm software comprises a contact state monitoring module which monitors a contact state of a contact input device, a command analyzing module which analyzes a command generated by the monitoring tool, an information obtaining module which obtains information required for command executions, a program executing module which executes a command, and a message output module which sends a message to a specified destination by using specified means, and alarms through a telephone line and an electronic mail system. The alarm software also includes user information, group information, alarm content information, schedule information, and contact information, as information required for the command executions. An easy-to-maintain alarm system is thus realized in the way which has a small influence on an existing environment.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic alarm system inwhich a computer automatically carries out alarm means when a failure orabnormality occurs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A conventional alarm system issues a warning when detecting anabnormality in a network or computer machine, or monitors a productionline in a factory, and gives an alert and stops the production line whenan abnormality occurs in the production line. In a monitoring operation,the conventional alarm system employs specific hardware and softwarewhich display a warning on a monitor or sound a buzzer or bell, as alarmmethods, in order to alarm to an operator and maintenance person.

[0003] The alarm method previously employed in the conventional alarmsystem often fails to alarm to the operator and maintenance person. Areliable alarm is done by certainly alarm to their alarm media. Alarmmethods therefore need to carefully change according to the operator andmaintenance person. To add a new alarm method to an existing system, acomplicated installation of the new method and even a reconstruction ofthe system should be considered. Even though the installation andreconstruction can be achieved, new requirements of the alarm systemwill generate according to time and circumstances. For example, when newalarm destinations of monitoring persons (alarm receivers) change due topersonnel relocation, a consideration for another installation into theexisting system is required, causing a heavy burden.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to easily construct areliable alarm system. Another object of the present invention is toconstruct an easy to maintain, expandable, and flexible alarm systemminimizes influence on an existing environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The above-described objects of the present invention are achievedby constructing a reliable and flexible automatic alarm system in whichalarm functions are grouped independent of existing environments, andinterface with various monitoring tools and monitoring software. Theautomatic alarm system of the present invention sends a alarm inresponse to a contact signal of an existing monitoring device, or bycommunicating with existing monitoring software.

[0006] The automatic alarm system according to one aspect of the presentinvention comprises: a destination information storing module whichstores information on alarm destinations; a command analyzing modulewhich analyzes a command executed by a monitoring program which monitorsa state; an information obtaining module which obtains alarm destinationinformation from the destination information storing module in referenceto information involved in the command obtained by the command analyzingmodule; and a message output module which transmits a predeterminedmessage to a destination specified in the destination information.

[0007] An automatic alarm system according to another aspect of thepresent invention comprises: a destination information storing modulewhich stores information on alarm destinations; a alarm contentinformation storing module which stores information on alarm contents; acommand analyzing module which analyzes a command executed by amonitoring program which monitors a state; an information obtainingmodule which obtains the destination information from the destinationinformation storing module in reference to information involved in thecommand obtained by the command analyzing module, and obtains the alarmcontent information from the alarm content information storing module;and a message output module which transmits a message specified in thealarm content information to a destination specified by the destinationinformation.

[0008] An automatic alarm system according to another aspect of thepresent invention comprises: a destination information storing modulewhich stores information on alarm destinations; a contact input devicewhich is connected to an output contact of a monitoring device whichmonitors a state; a contact information storing module which links andrecords a contact state of the contact input device and information onprocess contents; a contact monitoring module which monitors the contactstate of the contact input device and executes a command of a processcontent recorded in the contact information storing module when thecontact is in a specific state; a command analyzing module whichanalyzes the command executed by the contact monitoring module; aninformation obtaining module which obtains alarm destination informationfrom the destination information storing module in reference toinformation obtained by the command analyzing module; and a messageoutput module which transmits a specific message to a destinationspecified in the destination information.

[0009] An automatic alarm system according to still another aspect ofthe present invention comprises: a destination information storingmodule which stores information on alarm destinations; a alarm contentinformation storing module which stores information on alarm contents; acontact input device which is connected to an output contact of amonitoring device which monitors a state; a contact information storingmodule which links and records a contact state of the contact inputdevice and information on alarm process contents; a contact monitoringmodule which monitors the contact state of the contact input device andexecutes a command of a process content recorded in the contactinformation storing module when the contact is in a specific state; acommand analyzing module which analyzes the command executed by thecontact monitoring module; an information obtaining module which obtainsthe alarm destination information from the destination informationstoring module in reference to information obtained by the commandanalyzing module and obtains the alarm content information from thealarm content information storing module; and a message output modulewhich transmits a message specified in the alarm content information toa destination specified by the destination information.

[0010] The destination information storing module can store pluraldestinations divided into groups. The destination information storingmodule may further comprise schedule information storing means whichstores the information on time zones during each of which messagetransmission is inhibited.

[0011] The message can be transmitted by telephone or electronic mail.

[0012] The automatic alarm system can be achieved by loading a programinto its computer. The program can be loaded into the computer viarecording media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, MOs, and floppy disks, or vianetworks.

[0013] The present invention realizes an easy-to-modify, expandableautomatic alarm system which exerts small influence on an existingenvironment, by grouping the alarm functions independent of the existingenvironment, and by adding the grouped functions to the existingenvironment. In addition, a quicker response to the occurrence of anabnormality becomes possible with the grouped alarm functionsinterfacing with various monitoring devices and monitoring tools.

[0014] When the present invention is applied to, for example, a systemmonitoring networks and computer machines, a maintenance person in thedistance can receive a alarm on the occurrence of an abnormality, andthus reduce its own tasks, enabling a quick response to the abnormality.When the present invention is applied to a batch system at night, amaintenance person can be immediately receive a alarm on the occurrenceof abnormal termination of a job, and thus the job can be re-executedearlier, minimizing influence on the operations on the next day. Whenthe present invention is applied to a production plant, a maintenanceperson can receive a alarm on, for example, a fuel tank in which theremaining amount, to be monitored by a sensor, has dropped below athreshold level, and thus a monitoring operation by the maintenanceperson becomes unnecessary. Additionally, a maintenance person in adistant building can receive a alarm on a situation that the productionline has stopped. In addition to the above-described example situations,the present invention is applicable to various situations which need tobe alarmed to maintenance persons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an automatic alarmsystem according to the present invention.

[0016]FIG. 2 explains an example of user information.

[0017]FIG. 3 is an explanation drawing of one sample of groupinformation.

[0018]FIG. 4 explains an example of alarm content information.

[0019]FIG. 5 explains an example of schedule information.

[0020]FIG. 6 is a block diagram which explains an interfacing between amonitoring tool (software) and the automatic alarm system according tothe present invention.

[0021]FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a process after a alarm command of alarmsoftware is executed.

[0022]FIG. 8 shows an example of execution result/record information.

[0023]FIG. 9 is a block diagram which explains an interfacing betweenthe monitoring device and the automatic alarm system of the presentinvention.

[0024]FIG. 10 shows contact numbers of a contact input device and alarmprocess contents.

[0025]FIG. 11 is a flowchart which shows a procedure of the alarmprocess according to a contact signal from the monitoring device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0026] One embodiment of the present invention will be concretelydescribed in the following with reference to the appended drawings. FIG.1 is a block diagram, which explains one example of an automatic alarmsystem according to the present invention. A alarm device 3 (computer)receives detect signals from monitoring equipment 1 such as varioustypes of detectors and sensors, and from a monitoring tool 2 (software).The outputs of the monitoring equipment 1 are input to the alarm device3 via a contact input device 22. The computer of the alarm device 3includes alarm software 4 and other programs 12, and connects to adisplay 5. The computer 3 is connected to a network 7 and telephone line9 by a network connecting device 6 and modem 8. The computer 3 is alsoconnected to an annunciation device 10 such as a revolving light, whichis controlled by the alarm software 4. The computer 3 is furtherconnected to a computer 11 of an electronic mail system, and thus thealarm software 4 transmits an electronic mail via the computer 11. Themonitoring equipment 1 and monitoring tool 2 may independently transmitan electronic mail by connecting to the computer 11 of the electronicmail system. The electronic mail system can be contained in the computer3 of the alarm device.

[0027] The alarm software 4 comprises a contact state monitoring module40 which monitors states of contacts of the contact input device 22, acommand analyzing module 41 which analyzes commands generated by themonitoring tool 2, an information obtaining module 42 which obtainsinformation required for executing the commands, a program executingmodule 43 which executes the commands, a massage output module 44 whichalarms to specified destinations by using specified means, and a resultoutput module 45 which outputs the results and records of the alarmprocesses. In addition, the alarm software 4 includes user information46, group information 47, alarm content information 48, scheduleinformation 49, and contact information 50, as the information requiredfor executing the commands, and includes execution result/recordinformation 51 in which the results of the alarms are recorded.

[0028] The monitoring equipment 1 and monitoring tool 2 monitor a stateof a system such as a network and computer machine, a manufacturingplant, and a production line. When the monitoring equipment 1 ormonitoring tool 2 detects an abnormality of these monitored systems andgenerates an abnormal signal, the alarm software 4 in the alarm device 3activates to carry out a alarm process according to the informationwhich the alarm software 4 manages.

[0029] The output contacts of the monitoring equipment 1 are connectedto the contact input device 22. An RS-232C interface connects thecontact input device 22 and computer 3. When the monitoring equipment 1detects an abnormality, the computer 3 receives the contact output ofthe monitoring equipment 1 via the contact input device 22 and RS-232Cinterface, and thereby the alarm software 4 executes a alarm command insuch a manner as described below. The monitoring equipment 1 whichemploys, for example, a remaining amount sensor for a fuel tank, alertswarning, when the remaining amount of the fuel tank drops below acertain level. An alert signal (contact output) is input to the computer3 via the contact input device 22, and thereby the alarm software 4operating in the computer 3 executes the alarm command to transmit anecessary alarm.

[0030] The monitoring tool 2 may operate on a computer connecting to thecomputer 3 via a network, or on the computer 3 which contains the alarmsoftware 4. In the monitoring tool 2, an executing command for anabnormal event is previously defined. A alarm command of the alarmsoftware 4 is automatically executed as the defined executing commandwhen an abnormal event occurs. For example, when the monitoring tool 2employs a network monitoring software, a display content of a screenchanges in response to the occurrence of the abnormal event. A alarmcommand is previously defined in the alarm software 4 as the automaticaction when the display content changes. The alarm command isautomatically executed when the display content changes.

[0031] The automatic alarm system of the present invention can interfacewith the existing monitoring systems 1 and 2 only by executing thecommand of the alarm software 4 in response to the detection of theabnormal event. With this command level interface for alarm, theautomatic alarm system of the present invention can be easilyconstructed interfacing with an existing monitoring system which enablesa command execution.

[0032] When a command of the alarm software 4 is executed, the commandanalyzing module 41 analyzes the command, and the argument and optionthereof, and obtains the user information 46, group information 47, andschedule information 48 that are defined in the information obtainingmodule 42 based on the result of the analysis. Next, the programexecuting module 43 executes the analyzed command, and then the messageoutput module 44 outputs (alarms) a message to an obtained destination.The result output module 45 outputs the result and record of theexecution to a file.

[0033] As described above, because only a command execution is needed toalarm, a alarm system which exerts small influence on an existingenvironment can be constructed by adding a tool required for alarm, suchas the alarm software 4, to the existing environment. There are twocommand execution procedures. One procedure is that the alarm software 4receives a signal indicating the abnormal event detected by themonitoring equipment 1, and thereby automatically outputs a command.Another procedure is that, when the monitoring tool 2 detects theabnormal event, the alarm software 4 starts in response to a commandexecution. In both two procedures, an automatic command executionenables an immediate and reliable alarm.

[0034] Since the information 46, 47, 48, and 49 required for alarm aremanaged together by the alarm software 4, only the information of thealarm software 4 can be changed without changing the existingenvironments 1 and 2 even when a sudden operation alteration occurs.Therefore, the present invention can be easily used for changing personsto whom a message is alarmed, adding a alarm medium of a maintenanceperson, and limiting a alarm.

[0035]FIG. 2 is an explanation diagram of one example of the userinformation 46. The user information 46 includes information on users towhom the alarm software alarms and information on alarm means such as atelephone, pager, and electronic mail, and on their destinations such asa telephone number, pager number, and an electronic mail address of theusers. In FIG. 2, a portable phone number and electronic mail address ofa user “AAAA”, and a portable phone number, pager number, and electronicmail address of a user “BBBB” are registered as the alarm means anddestinations thereof.

[0036]FIG. 3 is an explanation diagram of one example of the groupinformation 47. The group information 47 contains group IDs and pluraldestination information. In a group ID: 1000, an activation of therevolving light, telephone call to the user “AAAA”, messaging to thepager of the user “BBBB”, and sending of an electronic mail to the user“BBBB” are registered. In a group ID: 2000, a sending of an electronicmail to the user “AAAA” and telephone call to the user “BBBB” areregistered.

[0037]FIG. 4 is an explanation diagram of one example of the alarmcontent information 48. In the alarm content information 48, thecontents to be alarmed are classified according to the group IDs. Thegroup ID: 1000 shows that content registered in Tel_file_A is to bealarmed with a telephone, and a content registered in mail_file_C is tobe alarmed with an electronic mail. The group ID: 2000 shows that acontent registered in pb_file_A is to be alarmed with a pager, and acontent registered in mail_file_E is to be alarmed with an electronicmail.

[0038]FIG. 5 explains an example of the schedule information 49. In theschedule information 49, a permission period during which a alarm can betransmitted, and an inhibition period during which a alarm cannot betransmitted, are defined for each media. In FIG. 5, a circle markexpresses the permission period and a cross mark expresses theinhibition period. The schedule information of FIG. 5 is defined for awhole system. The schedule information can be also defined for each useror each group. In addition to the period, day and date information canbe added to the schedule information.

[0039] A procedure that the automatic alarm system of the presentinvention alarms in response to a monitor signal from the monitoringtool (software) 2 will be described in the following.

[0040]FIG. 6 is a block diagram which explains an interfacing betweenthe monitoring tool (software) and automatic alarm system of the presentinvention. In the monitoring tool 2, a alarm command provided by thealarm software 4 is defined as the automatic action when a failure isdetected. A content of the alarm command to be executed can be changedaccording to failure types, in such a way that a alarm A is defined fora failure A, or a alarm B is defined for a failure B. For example, a“Cmd group ID” is defined as the command executed when the monitoringtool detects the failure A. When the failure A occurs, the command forthe failure A is automatically executed, and thereby a alarm istransmitted to the destination group specified by the group ID.Likewise, a alarm for the failure B can be processed with the alarmcommand defined to be executed when the failure B occurs.

[0041] When the monitoring tool 2 and alarm software 4 are in the samecomputer, a alarm can be done by a standard command executing functionof the computer without a particular interface between the monitoringtool 2 and alarm software 4. That is to say, when the monitoring tool 2executes a command of the alarm software 4, the alarm software 4activates to alarm. When the monitoring tool 2 and alarm software 4 arerespectively in different computers, the monitoring tool 2 in onecomputer executes a command of another computer which contains the alarmsoftware 4 by using, for example, the standard UNIX remote shellfunction.

[0042]FIG. 7 is a flowchart that shows one example process after a alarmcommand of the alarm software 4 starts. When the command starts, theuser information and group information which the alarm software 4manages is extracted according to the information (arguments, options)when the command is activated (step 701).

[0043] For example, a command “Cmd 1000” is executed to alarm to thegroup ID: 1000 of FIG. 3. When the command “Cmd 1000” is executed, it isdetermined whether or not destination information exists in reference tothe group information 47 and individual user information 46 forming thegroup information (step 702). When the destination information does notexist, an error message is output and then the command execution ends(step 708). In the group ID: 1000 of FIG. 3, the revolving light(electronic device) 10 is first activated, and a alarm is transmitted toin the following order: the telephone of the user AAAA, the pager of theuser BBBB, the electronic mail of the user BBBB. The alarm to eachdestination is done in reference to the user information 46.

[0044] After checking the destination information, the alarm commandsequentially refers to the schedule information 49 representing theschedule of each alarm media such as the revolving light and telephone(step 703), and checks whether or not the execution time of each alarmmedia is in the inhibition period (step 704). As shown in FIG. 5, whenthe current time (09:40:15) is out of the inhibition period between zeroo'clock and two o'clock, the alarm content information 48 is obtained tobe transmitted as a message (step 705). Tel_file_A, which is a contentof a alarm to the telephone of the group ID: 1000 shown in FIG. 4, issent to the above-described destination (step 706). Likewise, themessages are transmitted to the specified destinations by using a pagerand electronic mail. Lastly, the results of such message transmissionsare output to a file (step 707). FIG. 8 shows the output contentsrepresenting the dates and times and operations of the executions. Thedestinations, dates and times, and success or failure of the alarmprocess can be recorded.

[0045] A alarm procedure by the alarm system of the present invention inresponse to monitor signals from the monitoring equipment (hardware) 1will be described in the following.

[0046]FIG. 9 is a block diagram which explains an interfacing betweenmonitoring devices and the alarm system of the present invention. Themonitoring devices 211, 212, and 213, which are respectively providedfor various monitorings, are connected to the alarm system. Eachmonitoring device closes a contact (turns on) when it detects anabnormality of a monitored object. The output contacts of the monitoringdevices 211, 212, and 213 are connected to the contacts of the contactinput device 22, respectively. The contacts of the contact input device22 are numbered from 1 to 3. For example, the monitoring device 211connects to the contact 1, the monitoring device 212 connects to thecontact 2, and the monitoring device 213 connects to the contact 3. Thecontact input device 22 is connected to the computer 3 in which thealarm software 4 operates. A contact state monitoring module 40 of themonitoring software 4 periodically checks states of the contact inputdevice 22, and previously defines a alarm content for a state of eachcontact.

[0047]FIG. 10 shows an example of definition for the contact numbers ofthe contact input device 22 and for the contents of the alarm processes.This information of the FIG. 10 is previously defined to indicate howthe alarm software 4 operates when each contact of the contact inputdevice 22 closes, and is stored in the contact information 50 of thealarm software 4 in FIG. 1.

[0048] When the monitoring device 211 detects an abnormality, thecontact of the monitoring device 211 closes (turns on), andsimultaneously the contact 1 of the contact input device 22 closes. Thealarm software 4 detects such a state that the contact 1 of the contactinput device 22 has turned on, and thereby a alarm process is doneaccording to the alarm definition (in FIG. 10, alarm to the group ID:1000) for the contact 1. Likewise, when the monitoring device 212detects an abnormality, a alarm process is done according to the alarmdefinition for the contact 2, and when the monitoring device 213 detectsan abnormality, a alarm process is done according to the alarmdefinition for the contact 3. As described above, these respectivemonitoring devices are connected to the different contacts of thecontact input device 22, and are provided with different alarm contentspreviously defined by the alarm software 4, to carry out different alarmprocesses.

[0049]FIG. 11 is a flow chart which shows a procedure of a alarm processaccording to a contact signal from the monitoring device.

[0050] When a state that one of contacts of the contact input device 22has closed is detected (step 111), a alarm process for the closedcontact is checked using the definition information shown FIG. 10 (step112), and it is determined whether or not to alarm (step 113). When thealarm process has not been defined (a content of a alarm process doesnot exist), the alarm process finishes without any execution. When thealarm process has been defined (a content of the alarm process exists),a alarm command relevant to the alarm process is executed (step 114),and then the same process as from the step 701 downwards is done, asshown in FIG. 7.

[0051] The flow of the process towards the alarm command execution hasbeen described above. The automatic alarm system of the presentinvention can be altered only by changing the contents of respectiveinformation items 46 to 50 managed by the alarm software 4. To be moreprecise, the user information 46 in FIG. 2, the group information 47 inFIG. 3, the alarm content information 48 in FIG. 4, the scheduleinformation 49 in FIG. 5, and the contact information 50 in FIG. 10 arechanged. For example, when the name of the user 1 changes from “AAAA” to“CCCC” because of a personnel relocation, “AAAA” in FIG. 2 is replacedwith “CCCC”, and the destination of “AAAA” is also replaced with that of“CCCC”. When there is an alteration to a work time of the user BBBB, theschedule information in FIG. 5 is changed. When a alarm content of theelectronic mail in the group ID: 1000 needs to be altered, the file name“mail_file_C” in the alarm content information in FIG. 4 is replacedwith another file name, or the whole content of “mail_file_C” ischanged. As described above, since the automatic alarm system added toan existing environment stands alone, the alteration to the informationon the alarms can be achieved by altering only the automatic alarmsystem, minimizing influence on the existing environment.

[0052] According to the first invention, an automatic alarm system canbe added to an existing environment, and exert small influence on theexisting environment.

[0053] According to the second and third invention, an alarm command isexecuted in response to a contact signal from a monitoring device, or asan automatic action, so that the automatic alarm system can interfacewith various monitoring systems.

[0054] According to the forth invention, alarm contents are managedtogether, so that destinations can be easily altered, alarm media can beeasily selected, and a sudden operation alteration can be flexibly dealtwith.

[0055] According to the fifth invention, alarm functions stand alone, sothat an automatic alarm system with superior maintainability can beconstructed.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic alarm system comprising: adestination information storing module which stores information ondestinations to which an abnormality of a monitored object is alarmed; acontact input device which is connected to an output contact of amonitoring device which monitors a state of a monitored object; acontact information storing module which links and records a contactstate of the contact input device and information on process contents; acontact monitoring module which monitors the contact state of thecontact input device, and executes a command of a process contentrecorded in the contact information storing module when the contact isin a specific state; a command analyzing module which analyzes thecommand executed by the contact monitoring module; an informationobtaining module which obtains alarm destination information from thedestination information storing module in reference to informationobtained by the command analyzing module; and a message output modulewhich transmits a specific message to a destination specified in thedestination information.
 2. An automatic alarm system comprising: adestination information storing module which stores information ondestinations to which an abnormality of a monitored object is alarmed; aalarm content information storing module which stores information onalarm contents; a contact input device which is connected to an outputcontact of a monitoring device which monitors a state of the monitoredobject; a contact information storing module which links and records thecontact state of the contact input device and the information on processcontents; a contact monitoring module which monitors the contact stateof the contact input device, and executes a command of a process contentrecorded in the contact information storing module when the contact isin a specific state; a command analyzing module which analyzes thecommand executed by the contact monitoring module; an informationobtaining module which obtains alarm destination information from thedestination information storing module in reference to informationobtained by the command analyzing module, and obtains alarm contentinformation from the alarm content information storing module; and amessage output device which transmits a message specified in the alarmcontent information to a destination specified in the destinationinformation.
 3. The automatic alarm system according to claim 1, whereinplural alarm destinations are divided into groups and stored in thedestination information storing module.
 4. The automatic alarm systemaccording to claim 2, wherein plural alarm destinations are divided intogroups and stored in the destination information storing module.
 5. Theautomatic alarm system according to claim 1, further comprising scheduleinformation storing means which stores information on a time zone duringwhich the message transmission is inhibited.
 6. The automatic alarmsystem according to claim 2, further comprising schedule informationstoring means which stores information on a time zone during which themessage transmission is inhibited.
 7. The automatic alarm systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the message is transmitted by telephone orelectronic mail.
 8. The automatic alarm system according to claim 2,wherein the message is transmitted by telephone or electronic mail.
 9. Aprogram which makes a computer execute an automatic alarm system, theautomatic alarm system comprising: a destination information storingmodule which stores information on destinations to which an abnormalityof a monitored object is alarmed; a command analyzing module whichanalyzes a command executed by a monitoring program which monitors astate of the monitored object; an information obtaining module whichobtains a alarm destination information from the destination information storing module in reference to information involved in thecommand obtained by the command analyzing module; and a message outputmodule which transmits a given message to a destination specified in thedestination information.
 10. A program which makes a computer execute anautomatic alarm system, the automatic alarm system comprising: adestination information storing module which stores information ondestinations to which an abnormality of a monitored object is alarmed; aalarm content information storing module which stores information onalarm contents; a command analyzing module which analyzes a commandexecuted by a monitoring program which monitors a state of the monitoredobject: an information obtaining module which obtains alarm destinationinformation from the destination information storing module in referenceto information involved in the command obtained by the command analyzingmodule, and obtains alarm content information from the alarm contentinformation storing module; and a message output module which transmitsa message specified in the alarm content information to a destinationspecified in the destination information.
 11. The program according toclaim 9, wherein plural alarm destinations are divided into groups andstored in the destination information storing module.
 12. The programaccording to claim 10, wherein plural alarm destinations are dividedinto groups and stored in the destination information storing module.13. The program according to claim 9, the automatic alarm system furthercomprising schedule information storing means which stores informationon a time zone during which the message transmission is inhibited. 14.The program according to claim 10, the automatic alarm system furthercomprising schedule information storing means which stores informationon a time zone during which the message transmission is inhibited. 15.The program according to claim 9, wherein the message is transmitted bytelephone or electronic mail.
 16. The program according to claim 10,wherein the message is transmitted by telephone or electronic mail.